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ONE OF THE MAIN STREETS OF PORT-AU-PRINCE 



HAITI 



ITS DAWN OF PROGRESS AFTER 
YEARS IN A NIGHT OF REVOLUTION 



J. DRYDEN KUSER 




BOSTON 

RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 



F 

k 



COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY J. DrYDEN KuSER 



All Rights Reserved 



Made in the United States of America 



The Gorham Press, Boston, L. S. A. 



JUL 14 71 Jb 



2)C!.A81765S : 



\ 



TO MY WIFE 

BROOKE RUSSELL KUSER 

THE SOURCE OF MY ORIGINAL INTEREST IN HAITI 
AND A NEVER-TIRING AID IN THE PRESENT WORK. 



INTRODUCTION 

Haiti is a country of rapidly changing con- 
ditions. Like others, emerging from revolu- 
tion and disorder to peace and the pursuits of 
peace, it finds its possibilities unlimited. 
Furthermore, under the Haitian- American 
treaty, part of the government is being run 
by the Haitians themselves in the three depart- 
ments: executive, legislative and judicial; and 
a portion is controlled by the United States, 
including the military. In such a two-party 
control, there is naturally friction and this 
causes frequent and changing disagreements. 

Whereas in January, 1920, the bandit 
trouble was serious, I have just found, during 
a brief November trip, that this has ceased to 
be an active danger. In its place there has 
arisen, not a military worry, but a political one. 



Introdmctwn 



Haitian agitators, supported by ill-advised 
Americans, have spread propaganda favoring 
the withdrawal of the United States from 
Haiti. Included in this propaganda have been 
the absurd accusations against the marines of 
cruelty toward the natives. 

The question of any cruelty or unnecessary 
killings has been conclusively disproven by the 
findings of a Court of Inquiry sent to Haiti, 
and which has recently published its findings. 
As to the withdrawal of the United States 
from Haiti — such a course would be a menace 
to the world and a sad neglect of duty by the 
United States. Any American acquainted 
with Haitian conditions will agree that the 
marines would scarcely have boarded the 
American ships before the entire country 
would be in a state of civil war, the lives and 
property of foreigners endangered, and the 
possibility of Haiti paying off her foreign debt 
would be lost. 



Introduction 



As opposed to this prospect of revolution, 
we have a bright future for Haiti, if the United 
States remains. The country is naturally rich 
in its products and its soil, and labor is able to 
work for cheaper wages than elsewhere. This 
is a great incentive for American business to 
invest its capital, which means that the country 
will rapidly become rich again — as it once was 
in the French days. But unlike conditions in 
those days, the Haitian himself will share in 
the future development and wealth. 

J. Deyden Kusee. 

Bihxahdsvujje, New Jebset. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 



PAGE 



I Sargasso and Flying Fish . . .11 

II Cacos ....... 20 

III Every Man's Land — A Bit of History . 38 

IV Vaudoux ....••• 52 
V Public Education and Normil Charles 63 

VI The President 74 

VII A Morning Hunt 77 

VIII Pine Needles 87 

IX Cotton 93 

X Gourdes ....... 101 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

One of the Main Streets of Port-au-Prince 

Frontispiece 

PACING 
PAGE 

Sifting Coffee Along a Principal Street . . 13 

Dessalines ...... Following 20 

The "Open" Market Just Below the Cathe- 
dral . . . . . . Following 20 

Entrance to the "Closed" Market ... 28 

Marine Patrol ..... Following 36 

Hills Near Mirebalais . . . Following 36 

Civil Prisoners of Port-au-Prince Making 

Chairs . . . . . . . .45 

Women Carrying in to Market Baskets Which 

They Have Made . . . Following 52 

The Cathedral ..... Following 52 

A Source of the Greatest Good — The Roman 
Catholic Sisters at One of the Many Con- 
vents on the Island ..... 60 

__ __ 7 ~~ ~ 



List of Illustrations 



FACING 
PAGE 



The Head Nurse at the Public Hospital with 

Her Corps of Haitian Nurses . . . 6l 

Magistrar's Stand of Which There is One in 

Every Town .... Following 68 

The New President's Palace . . Following 68 

"White Wings" of Port-au-Prince . . .76^" 

Market Women Leaving Town on Their 

"Burros" ....... 77*^ 

Typical "Caille" Near Furcy . . Following 84 ' 

Railway to Leogane . . . Following 84* 

On the St. Marc Road After the Heavy Rains 92 

Haitian Women Washing Their Clothes in a 

Ditch ...... Following 100 

The American Club .... Following 100 



HAITI 



HAITI 



SARGASSO AND FLYING FISH 

FOR the first two days out of New York 
harbor flocks of Herring Gulls followed 
us and occasionally an odd Robin and 
a pair of Goldfinches appeared. But after 
Hatteras was passed and the sea was calmer 
the gulls left us and flying fish took their place. 
Stationed at the bow I watched them dart out 
of the foam and skim, sometimes a few feet, 
often many yards. At night I took the same 

11 



Haiti: Its Dazcn of Progress 

post and the phosphorescent "stars of the Bf 
shone verv orpeen asrainst the vellow constella- 
tions above. 

By the third day ever-increasing quantities 
of sargasso weed appeared and floated past. 
T rn from their beds along tropical coii 
these bits of weed act as the shelter for multi- 
farious forms of aquatic life which live as long 
as the weed lives and die when it finally decays. 
And so. although no sign of bird or other life 
appeared above the water surface, we were sur- 
rounded every moment by thousands of indi- 
viduals of dozens of specie- 

Our ship was the "Advance"" of the Amer- 
ican government -controlled Panama R. R. 
Steamship Company, which operates the serv- 
ice between New York, Haiti and Panama, 
Two steamers run to Panama via Port-au- 
Prince. Haiti, three are exclusively for Haitian 
ports, while the others do not stop at Haiti 
en route to Panama. Beside the Panama line 



12 




SIFTING COFFEE ALONG A PRINCIPAL STREET 



Sargasso and Flying Fish 



there is the Dutch line of boats which runs 
from New York to Haiti on regular sailings, 
but aside from these two there are no other 
lines which regularly run ships to Haiti. And 
so the quickest way of travelling from Haiti 
to another of the West Indies is via Panama. 
Coming south, the first land appeared on 
the fourth day, when the lighthouse of San 
Salvador, re-named Watling's Island by the 
British, showed the northern pointi of land 
long before the rest of the flat surface was 
visible. Bird Rock, the Fortune Islands and 
Castle Island were passed during the next 
twelve hours, and finally the high mountains 
of eastern Cuba were twenty miles off our 
starboard. Before these were out of sight, 
the peak of Mole St. Nicholas, Haiti, arose 
on the port bow. But we were by no means 
yet at Port-au-Prince, our destination, for it 
is a seven-hour sail from this point to the har- 
bor in the lower part of the bay. The bay 



is 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

itself is over 100 miles long, and in the center 
of it is the Island of Gonave, 10 by 40 miles, 
to which all convicts were exiled from Haiti in 
the French days, and many of whose present 
inhabitants are descendents of these exiles. 

After we had passed Gonave, the mountain 
ranges on both sides became very close and we 
could see the smoke of many fires high up on 
their slopes. These fires, we later found out, 
were those of the charcoal burners, who play 
an important role on the island. The char- 
coal is obtained by placing the wood which 
has been gathered under a covering of earth 
in such a way as to eliminate the undesired 
gases and leave the charcoal. After sufficient 
time, the earth is removed and the charcoal 
carried for miles into town on the backs of 
"burros." Charcoal is used entirely in Haiti 
for kitchen fuel. Of the fires we saw in the 
hills, all were probably not those of charcoal 
burners, as it is the common thing for the 

14 



Sargasso and Flying Fish 



natives to burn off a section of the land which 
they desire to use and to ascribe the fire to 
spontaneous combustion. 

At last the vari-colored lights of Port-au- 
Prince peeped forth from among the foothills 
on the right and we followed the channel in 
by alignment with two huge red range lights, 
one on the top of the Cathedral and the other 
on Fort National. The beauty of coming into 
Port-au-Prince is by daylight, when, not un- 
like Serrento, it shows a background of 2800 
foot mountains rising behind, and with the pel- 
lucid green sea stretching out from the town. 
A Haitian launch came alongside for the cus- 
tom officials to board. Our passports were 
taken to be kept for overnight and recorded, 
and we were then allowed to proceed to the 
dock which is at the end of a long pier jutting 
out from the land. 

As we spun along to the house where we 
were to visit we went over streets smoother 



15 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

and wider than all but a few in the United 
States. These streets, throughout most of 
the town, were put down under contract with 
an American firm in 1914, before American 
occupation of Haiti, and are of excellent qual- 
ity. From the business district we came out 
into the Champ de Mars, a laid-out park with 
a bronze of Dessalines, the "Founder of Hai- 
tian Independence," in the center; and at the 
end a grandstand from which to watch the 
sports or national festivities. Next to the 
Champ de Mars is the new palace of the 
President of Haiti. It is now at a stage of 
near-completion, and one wing is already oc- 
cupied by the President and his family. This 
building is the fourth palace to be built on the 
same site, one of the others having been set 
on fire and destroyed, and the other two ruined 
through explosions. In the latter cases the 
President had been unable to trust anyone 
with the keeping of the national supply of 

16 



Sargasso and Flying Fish 



ammunition and was forced to keep it in his 
own palace, so that in both cases the Presidents 
were killed by means of their own powder. 
On the lower side of the palace are the marine 
barracks and the gendarme caserne, opposite 
one another, and above the Champ de Mars 
is the marine brigade headquarters. 

At this point starts the residential section 
of the town for both wealthy Haitians and 
Americans and other foreigners. We rode 
over narrow, quaint streets, after passing the 
marine headquarters, until we came to Avenue 
Christophe and our house, of old French style 
and with peaked roof, which was at one time 
used as the Presidential palace. Most of the 
houses of Port-au-Prince are of this old French 
style and show few traces of the original 
Spanish. Around all the better houses there 
are dense tropical growths with mangoes, 
oranges, and guanavena or sour-sap hanging 
over the porches. Many of the yards have 

17 """" 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

also one or two royal palms, with their great 
white trunks reaching over fifty feet and with 
leaves clustered at the top. At the very tip 
of the tree's trunk is the heart, for which many 
trees are cut down, as "heart of palm" is one 
of the delicacies of the tropics. In the country 
districts both the royal and cocoanut palm are 
common. The two are somewhat similar but 
can be easily told apart by the crooked growth 
of the latter and also its darker and rougher 
trunk. 

The first morning after our arrival was 
cloudy, which was very unusual, for thruout 
the year in Port-au-Prince the mornings are 
almost invariably clear. So is the remainder 
of the day for the six months during the dry 
season, but in the wet season it regularly rains 
a downpour for about two hours late each 
afternoon. November is the beginning of the 
dry season, so for a couple of weeks after our 
arrival it would still occasionally rain for a few 

18 



Sargasso and Flying Fish 



moments a day. But we missed having any 
of the truly tropical rains which during the 
summer flood the streets and sweep all before 
them. 

While the winter is for Port-au-Prince and 
southern Haiti the dry season, the conditions 
are exactly reversed in the northern half of 
the republic. There the wet season com- 
mences in November, to last for six months 
until the next summer when all becomes dry 
again. And so there is never a time in Haiti 
when half of the island is not being well- 
watered and the fruit and crops in season. 



19 



II 

CACOS 

ALTHOUGH, in the days of the 
French, Cap Haitien was the capital 
of Haiti, to-day Port-au-Prince is the 
capital as well as the most important town. 
It is also the most modern town, being the 
only one, for example, to have the paved 
streets which I have referred to. In addition 
it has a good telephone and electric lighting 
system. 

The first morning's tour of the shops in 
Port-au-Prince made my former knowledge 
of fair prices useless. Goods which it was 
necessary to import from the United States, 
such as silks and American-made cloths, 
seemed exorbitant; perfumes and French 
clothes, imported directly from Paris at a low 

20 




DESSALISTES 

In the Champs de Mars 




THE OPEN MARKET JUST BELOW THE CATHEDRAL 



Cacos 

rate of duty sold at a considerably reduced 
rate from the New York price; but naturally 
the greatest difference in cost was those of 
native goods. Mahogany grows plentifully 
throughout the interior of Haiti and hence is 
easily obtained. Its price is consequently low 
and I purchased a solid mahogany small din- 
ner table for $6, which is the customary price. 
But compare the price for such a piece in New 
York! And then of course the native fruits 
were either free along the roads or at a nominal 
price in the markets. Alligator pears, bought 
as a luxury in New York for 75 cents or a dol- 
lar apiece, sell in Port-au-Prince for 5 pears 
for 2 cents. 

In Port-au-Prince there are two markets, 
the "open" and the "closed," of which the 
latter is a roofed and walled structure and the 
former held without cover on an open plaza, 
directly beneath the wall around the Cathe- 
dral. Here, together with alligator pears, are 

21 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

sold bananas, limes, grapefruit, fish, meats, 
dry goods and odds and ends which are found 
in a department store. Here also "rapadou* 
— a native candy made from brown sugar and 
cocoanut — is for sale. This candy is also 
peddled along the streets and trays full of it 
are carried by the natives on their heads, whilst 
they continually call attention to their ware 
by calling it out at frequent intervals. What- 
ever a Haitian has to carry, be it an armchair, 
a piece of paper or a trayful of fine glassware, 
he carries it upon his head. They have in this 
way developed the ability to stand great weight 
and certainly one beneficial result is the invari- 
ably erect carriage of a Haitian caused 
through the necessity of always maintaining 
balance when he carries his goods. 

Up to within a few weeks of our arrival the 
native shops used to remain open in the eve- 
ning. When we arrived, however, they closed 
each night at dark. This was because of a 

22 



Cacos 

scare which they had recently received when 
a small band of revolutionary bandits, known 
throughout Haiti as "cacos," attempted to 
make a raid upon the town. In the old days 
of unstable government the natives had become 
accustomed to the existing government falling 
every time the cacos arrived, and they were 
not easily led to realize last September that it 
is no longer possible now that the marines are 
guarding the town. And hence for weeks 
after the attack the shopkeepers regularly 
shut themselves up in their houses at dark 
each night. 

For sometime after the Americans occupied 
Haiti in 1915 there were no organized upris- 
ings, but within a year various causes have led 
the wild tribes of the interior to join together 
into various bands and attempt organized 
raids. 

The fighting of these cacos is extremely 
difficult for three principal reasons; first, the 

23 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

secret sympathy of some reputable and promi- 
nent Haitians and the consequent impossibil- 
ity of obtaining any information from them; 
second, the nature of the country which per- 
mits the cacos to retreat into the mountainous 
regions which are wild and contain many caves 
and trails unknown to the whites; and third, 
the manner in which the bandits fight. Like 
the Indians they conduct a warfare of night 
raids and of sniping, so that only a sort of 
guerrilla war can be conducted against them. 
And then too, as the cacos are not in uniform, 
it is impossible to know who is or who is not 
a caco, except when they are actually banded 
together or carrying their arms. 

But results are being slowly accomplished. 
The towns are protected and guarded so that 
when an attack is made it can be repulsed and 
patrols sent out to round up as many of the 
invaders as possible. In the interior districts 
where the bandits congregate and make their 

24 



Cacos 

rendezvous, expeditions are being continually 
sent out and the country honeycombed be- 
tween the different hill posts. Near L'Archa- 
hai there is a cave which, dating from the earli- 
est records of Haitian history, has been cred- 
ited as being a bandit retreat. Here the cacos 
are still supposed to meet and go into hiding, 
but as the cave is a huge opening on the side of 
a mountain, and inaccessible unless a rope lad- 
der be let down from someone already there, it 
is quite inaccessible and impossible to attack. 

In Haiti there are two different armies, so 
to speak. The gendarmerie or national army 
of Haiti consists of the enlisted men who are 
Haitians and of officers in charge of them who 
are American marines loaned to the Haitian 
Government, in accordance with the provisions 
of the treaty, to organize and train the Haitian 
army so as to make it an efficient fighting 
police force which is able to support, and pre- 
serve against attack, the existing government. 

25 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

The gendarmerie have abundantly proven, 
in many recent cases when they have been led 
by American officers, that they are thoroughly 
trustworthy and loyal fighters. Nor is there 
any doubt of their courage, for they are as 
brave as any body of troops in the world. The 
gendarmerie are used for guarding a town 
after it has been once freed from active caco- 
ism, and everywhere in Haiti one sees their 
white and red stone headquarters. The gen- 
darmerie are also used, together with the 
marines, to go out into the hills o*n patrols for 
routing the cacos and clearing up the country. 

The second army is the occupation force of 
American marines stationed in Haiti since the 
intervention of 1915 to preserve order and pro- 
tect the nationals and property of Americans 
and other foreigners in the country. For 
those marines who are in search of real adven- 
ture and fighting, even those who were in the 
world war might well look with envy upon 

26 



Cacos 

the men who are doing patrol duty among the 
Haitian hills. Alone or in company with the 
gendarmes, they have had encounters so filled 
with adventure that I will tell of one which 
occurred shortly before our arrival. 

Charlemagne Massena Peralte, a man who 
came from the Hinche district, and of natural 
ability as a leader, was of anti-white sympa- 
thies and early after the American occupation 
associated himself with a family named Zamor 
in the northeast country around Hinche. 
One of the Zamor brothers, Oreste Zamor, was 
formerly a president of the republic and an- 
other was the great leader of the north and is 
now in the Port-au-Prince prison as a con- 
spirator. Charlemagne rose in the caco ranks 
to the position of chief and was so successful 
in his first encounters and attempts as to make 
the name of Charlemagne known everywhere 
as the supreme caco. Charlemagne was the 
clever and guiding hand of all the revolution- 

27 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

ary attacks which occurred about this time, 
so it became of the greatest importance to 
capture him. Many attempts to do this were 
made by the marines and the gendarmes, but 
on each occasion his preparation for scouts and 
ways of escape made it possible for him to 
evade them. 

In October, the location of Charlemagne 
having been reported, two marines, officers in 
the gendarmerie, volunteered to capture Char- 
lemagne. They made very careful prepara- 
tions to set out with twenty gendares and dis- 
guised themselves by blackened skin and native 
clothes. Both of the officers spoke Creole well, 
but naturally with some foreign accent and so 
it was necessary for them to speak as little as 
was possible. When near the place where 
Charlemagne was reported to be spending the 
day, they met the first caco outposts who 
stopped and questioned them. Claiming they 

28 




„„„„„■„.„ wwffN " 2ES 



ENTRANCE TO THE "CLOSED" JMAHKET 



Cacos 

had an important message to deliver to Charle- 
magne, giving the password and claiming such 
extreme fatigue for the two officers that these 
officers could barely answer the questions put 
to them, the party succeeded in being passed. 
A second and a third guard of Charle- 
magne's were in the same way fooled and at 
last the gendarmes came to a clearing. In 
the center of the clearing were gathered to- 
gether a group of bandits around a fire, and 
at the side of the fire sat a woman. Behind 
her there was a sort of rude throne and here 
sat the great Charlemagne. Scarcely had the 
gendarmes seen the crowd collected here when 
they were recognized and a signal given. The 
woman lept to the fire and succeeded in brush- 
ing and stamping it out. In the darkness 
which followed, she and her followers escaped. 
But hardly had the signal of detection been 
given when Charlemagne was the aim for the 

29 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

gendarme rifles, and when a new fire was 
lighted he was found to be dead together with 
a few of the crowd with him. 

The belief in Haiti was a common one that 
Charlemagne was a supernatural being who 
was immune from rifle bullets or the weapons 
of his adversaries. In fact, he himself boasted 
that this was true. And so, upon his death, 
pictures of him were taken and these the 
marines spread broadcast throughout the re- 
public to prove to all Haitians that the invul- 
nerable Charlemagne was at last killed. 

It is this kind of fighting which the marines 
and gendarmes have to continually do in com- 
batting the caco trouble. After the death of 
Charlemagne, Benoit Batraville, who was 
formerly a sullen police chief in the mountain 
town of Mirebalais, became the caco leader. 
He had joined the caco ranks only shortly be- 
fore Charlemagne's death, and. although not 
nearly so clever a brigand as the supreme caco 

so 



Cacos 

was perhaps the most intelligent and the best 
leader when Charlemagne died. Up to the time 
of my departure in February, all attempts to 
capture Benoit had failed but I have since 
heard of his killing. It was during a skirmish 
with the marines in which the latter penetrated 
to the leader's rendezvous and although every 
other person in the camp escaped, the officer 
leading the marines had the good fortune to 
kill Benoit. 

And so another man of fair intelligence has 
been eliminated from the bandit forces. This 
has practically destroyed the caco power as 
an offensive force, for it is the few men 
whom the cacos have among them of brains 
which make them at all a dangerous factor. 
The bandits are with a few exceptions utterly 
ignorant and unable to lead an attack unless 
inspired and led by someone who has lived in 
the towns and developed some intelligence. 
To illustrate the almost unbelievable state of 

31 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

mentality possessed by the cacos, I will tell 
of the prisoners taken in one 'raid. After 
the raid the prisoners were taken back to the 
town to be temporarily held there awaiting 
trial. When the men reached the house, they 
were unable to walk up the stairs, as stairs 
were new to them. They had never seen a 
house of two stories before and did not know 
what to make of the second floor. 

I have mentioned a caco attempt to raid 
Port-au-Prince just before our arrival, in 
which some of the bandits reached town. By 
January, over a month after we arrived, the 
town had again assumed its normal state, and 
fear of another attack was practically elimi- 
nated from the minds of the natives. This was 
the condition when, on the morning of January 
15th, the telephone rang at 4 a.m. and we 
heard that "3,000 cacos are marching into town 
by the Hasco Road." The cacos, advancing 
into town in column and with flags and conch- 



Cacos 

horns blowing, divided, a quarter of a mile 
from town, one column going along the water 
front and reaching town by way of the slaugh- 
ter house, the other two columns turning far- 
ther inland and advancing around Belleair 
hill, by the radio station. 

When the troops had nearly reached town 
our marines opened fire with Brownings and 
machine guns, but the natives broke ranks and 
fired from around corners, and rushing into the 
houses, fired upon the marines from the win- 
dows. Gradually they were driven back, but 
en route they had fired some of the native 
"cailles" in the poor section of the town and 
the light from this lit up the entire surround- 
ing country. 

By daybreak many cacos were lying dead 
along the entrance to the city, the attack had 
been completely repulsed and the cacos driven 
far from town. Over 150 were captured or 
killed and but three of the marines wounded, 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

only one fatally. A large number of caco had 
been pressed so hard on their flanks and front 
that they were forced to retreat into a closed 
valley back of Belleair and were there almost 
completely wiped out by a volley of machine 
guns. 

All during the day patrols searched the 
plains and outlying country. In this way they 
captured singly or in groups many of the 
brigands who were retreating to the hills. 
One automobile full of townsmen, arriving 
from Gonaives, told of meeting the caco band, 
or at least part of it and only escaping by a 
miracle. The dents and holes made by the 
bullets while the car ran the gauntlet between 
the crowd, could be seen covering the body of 
the car when it came into town. 

In the afternoon a house-to-house search 
was made in the district where the fighting 
occurred and, asleep in his own house, the 
police found and recognized Solomen Janvier. 

34 



Cacos 

Janvier is a man who formerly lived in Port- 
au-Prince in the house where he was found. 
But he had always been a revolutionist and for 
many months previous to the raid had been 
out in the hills with the cacos. 

Janvier boasted, after he had been taken 
to prison, that every attack which had been 
made upon Port-Au-Prince during recent 
years had been led by him; and that in the 
present raid there had been three leaders lead- 
ing the different sections of the caco force, but 
that the other two were cowards and had fled 
before they reached town, he alone leading the 
actual attack. 

The number of cacos who reached the town 
is uncertain. First reports gave the number 
as 3,000, which was later reduced to 1,500, as 
claimed by the men at Hasco, the sugar plant 
of the American-Haitian Sugar Company, by 
which the cacos passed on their way into town. 
But, although there were many camp followers 

35 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

who never entered and engaged in the fighting, 
it is probable that the number of actual fight- 
ers was about 300. On the morning after the 
raid, our cook told me that she had heard in 
the market places that morning that there were 
2,000,000 cacos who had entered the town and 
that 1,000,000 had been killed. This, I think, 
was the wildest rumor I heard. 

On the second day someone spread the 
rumor that 2,000 more cacos were coming into 
Port-au-Prince, and as it took some time to 
prove the report false, there was great ex- 
citement throughout the town. I went down 
beyond the Champ de Mars, and, rushing in 
every direction, were the natives, each return- 
ing to his respective home. As soon as they 
reached there, the windows and doors were 
boarded and within a very short time every 
house was closed and not a person was to be 
seen upon the streets. And so another day 
was lost to business, for all of the shops had 

36 



* ' ' '•■•' * ■ ; ' ■ 




,:^.' - -^ 









MARINE PATROL 




HILLS JfEAR 3IIREBALAIS 



Cacos 

been closed since the raid because of the great 
fear that the cacos were going to make a second 
attack. 

In October, when the raid was made before 
our arrival, the cacos escaped with a loss of 
only a few men, but in January so many of 
their number were killed or captured in town 
and out in the plains during their retreat that 
it will certainly make them wary of again in- 
vading the town for a long time to come. 

Benoit, himself, was in part of the fighting 
during the January raid, but unfortunately 
was among the bandits who escaped and was 
soon back with his followers in the Mirebalais 
hills, where he was eventually captured as I 
have related. 



37 



Ill 

EVERY MAN'S LAND A BIT OF HISTORY 

THE Republic of Haiti consists of the 
western part of the island of Santo 
Domingo, while the eastern end consti- 
tutes the country of Santo Domingo. The 
latter, while it has three times the territory, 
claims but one-third the population of Haiti, 
which is to-day estimated at 2,500,000. Col- 
umbus' estimate of the combined population 
of what is now Haiti and Santo Domingo was 
as high as 2,000,000, but during the four inter- 
vening centuries the change in race has been 
complete. Scarcely a strain of aboriginal 
blood is left; and no ancestor of the present 
natives then even knew of the "new world." 
Ownership of Haiti has changed hands four 
times in this period, and revolution, crime and 

38 



Every Man's Land — A Bit of History 

barbarism have left indelible marks on the 
pages of her history. 

The men left in Haiti by Columbus and 
those who followed the pioneers from Spain 
have scant justification for their brutal treat- 
ment of the Indians whom they met, and 
among the disgraces committed by white men 
in their dealings with the aborigines in Amer- 
ica, the acts of the Spaniards in Haiti and 
Santo Domingo were among the most deplor- 
able. 

Before long, the Spaniards, having wiped 
out the native Indians, were obliged to search 
for labor to till their soil and to search for gold. 
All of the metals possessed by the local red- 
skins had been stolen by the first-comers. 
Turning naturally to African slaves to solve 
the problem of labor, the Spaniards imported 
the blacks in ever-increasing numbers. 

The Spaniards had not long been settled in 
this way before they were themselves forced 

39 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

to contest rule over the island, for French ad- 
venturers had come into the country and by 
1697 the latter were so successful that most 
of that portion of land now known as Haiti 
was recognized by the Spanish to be under 
French control. 

The French continued the practice, com- 
menced by the Spaniards, of introducing negro 
slaves and thousands were each year added to 
the number already settled. Rapidly Haiti 
became France's richest colony and the stories 
of the magnificent estates and the luxury in 
which wealthy planters and French noblemen 
lived are pitiful in contrast with what was so 
soon to follow. Pauline Bonaparte's estate 
near "Mon Repos" on the outskirts of Port- 
au-Prince lies in ruins and there remains little 
trace of luxury about the huge pool where once 
she held court and receptions at which much 
of the nobility of France was present. It is 
said that the wealthy Parisians used to send 

40 



Every Man's Land — A Bit of History 



their clothes to be washed in the waters of the 
streams of Port-au-Prince regularly every six 
months because of the extraordinary bluing 
quality which was credited to the water. 

While Haiti was thus becoming a treasure 
island for the French, this wealth was at the 
expense of the black slaves, whom the French 
forced into overwork by extreme punishments. 
And thus, while the nobility in France were 
holding down their peasants to vaunt their 
vanity in the effete displays of the court of 
Louis XV, and thus foster the seeds of discon- 
tent which bore such frightful fruit in the days 
of the Guillotine, the French planters were do- 
ing the self-same thing to a worse extent in 
their treatment of the blacks in Haiti. Out 
of their cruel servitude was to come the suc- 
cession of revolutions and the hatred of black 
and white which to this day has kept Haiti in 
the rearguard of civilization. 

The era of the French revolution gave an 



41 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

opening for the first negro rebellion, and led 
by the example of the white planters who re- 
belled against their own government, the mu- 
lattoes organized to some extent and a man 
named Oge attempted to obtain justice in both 
Paris and from the local authorities. Failing, 
he was sought as a rebel and after armed re- 
sistance by himself and his followers he was 
captured and executed. 

Critical conditions soon led the French Con- 
stituent Assembly to send three Commission- 
ers from France to restore order and also 
issued a decree that "every man of color, born 
of free parents should enjoy equal political 
rights with the whites." However, the feeling 
in Haiti was so strong against this act that 
pressure was brought to bear upon Governor 
Blanchelande which prevented his executing 
the decree and pitched battles took place be- 
tween the whites and the blacks. 

The French Government, largely through j 

42 



Every Man's Land — A Bit of History 

incapable Commissioners whom they had sent, 
was losing her grip on the control of Haitian 
affairs, and at the same time there arose two 
contending forces to control affairs there. In 
the north the negros had succeeded in becom- 
ing the stronger factor and a slave, named 
Toussaint L' Overture, though at first faithful 
to his master, soon saw the inevitable trend of 
affairs and joined the rebels. He very quick- 
ly proved his ability for leadership and was 
soon chosen their chief. 

In the meanwhile the English had, with a 
ridiculously small force, taken St. Marc and 
afterwards Port-au-Prince. After Toussaint 
had firmly established himself in the north, he 
marched southward to essay the attacking of 
the English. Time after time he attempted to 
force them to surrender, but each effort was 
repulsed. Soon, however, the English real- 
ized the impossibility of conquering Haiti, and 
decided to evacuate. They treated with Tous- 

48 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

saint and left St. Marc and Port-au-Prince to 
him and his party of the north. 

At this point Toussaint showed his discern- 
ing insight into the entire black versus white 
situation at that time by allowing all foreigners 
who sided with him to remain undisturbed in 
the newly-acquired territory. But this action 
did not meet with favor from all, and, chiefly 
through the influence of Hedouville, many 
whites were murdered contrary to the order of 
Toussaint. 

Rigoud, in control of the south, now opposed 
Toussaint but was forced to make peace with 
him when the French sent a commission and 
supported Toussaint's claim to rule. Among 
the generals of Toussaint was Dessalines who 
commanded his troops in the north while Tous- 
saint was himself in the vicinity of Port-au- 
Prince. Dessalines, like Hedouville, was 
radically opposed to the equality policy of 
Toussaint and while the latter was away he 

44 




CIVIL PRISONERS AT PORT-AU-PRINCE MAKING CHAIRS 



Every Man's Land— A Bit of History 



was intolerant of the mulattos and murdered 
thousands of them. 

Toussaint, in spite of these disagreements 
and violations of his orders, was nevertheless 
supreme in Haiti. He now aspired to the 
throne of Santo Domingo as well. Therefore, 
all preparations completed, he set out upon his 
new march of conquest and, not meeting a 
single reverse, Toussaint, upon his return, 
claimed possession of the entire island. 

But here Toussaint made his fatal step. 
Instead of declaring the independence of 
Haiti he ruled it as a French colony with him- 
self as the self-appointed governor and with 
his creed based upon equality for white, black 
and mulatto. The result of this policy was 
that when France was again at peace, Bona- 
parte was able to make an attempt to again 
bring Haiti back to the condition of slavery. 
By false trickery the French General Leclerc 
captured Toussaint and exiled him to the Alps, 



45 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

where he soon died. Toussaint, the conqueror, 
thus lost his chance of becoming Toussaint, the 
founder of the republic. 

War was now declared between France and 
England and opportunity again arose for the 
French to be driven from Haiti. Dessalines 
with many of Toussaint' s former generals ac- 
complished this task and declared the country 
independent. Dessalines was made Governor- 
General and declared the "Founder of Haitian 
Independence." He is known everywhere 
under this title to-day, and is far more revered 
than Toussaint as the great national hero. 
Inspired by the crowning of Bonaparte in 
1804, Dessalines declared himself the first em- 
peror of Haiti and from that time on until his 
death he continued to rule a one-man power of 
terrorism and brutality. 

Upon the death of Dessalines, rival claims 
were made by the various sectional chiefs for 
the crown of the new Haitian Empire. Out 

46 



Every Man's Land — A Bit of History 

of these leaders Christophe arose in the north 
as the strongest contender and after pro- 
claiming himself King Henry I of Haiti, he 
succeeded in practically eliminating all other 
leaders except Petion who was very powerful 
in the south. But these two rivals were forced 
to unite their forces and strength in common 
cause against the French who made a new but 
unfruitful effort to regain possession of the 
island. 

Petion and Christophe were opposite types. 
Petion was rather easy-going and it was this 
which held his followers to him rather than any 
show of force. But Christophe, second only 
to Dessalines as a national hero, was even more 
despotic than that emperor in the treatment 
of his own people. 

It was Christophe who built the great citadel 
at Cap Haitien and who, taking his architect 
up to show him the view from the cliff, pitched 
him into eternity lest he might disclose his 

47 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

knowledge of the secret passages which he had 
designed. In building the Citadel, the ascent 
was so steep as to make almost beyond the lim- 
its of human endurance the carrying up of 
heavy building materials. It is said that the 
5000 men assigned to do this work refused, 
and, upon hearing of this, Christophe had the 
men lined up and every other man killed. He 
then commanded the remaining 2500 to com- 
plete the task or they should receive the same 
fate as the others. 

But this iron rule of Christophe proved to 
be a boomerang for him and a man named 
Boyer, who was by this time the leader in the 
south, marched northward and declared Haiti, 
a republic and himself its first president. The 
north was tired of Christophe and willingly 
joined in with the cause of Boyer. Under 
Boyer, Santo Domingo declared herself inde- 
pendent and in allegiance to President Boyer 

48 



Every Man's Land — A Bit of History 

of Haiti, who thus became chief of the entire 
island. 

The next event was the demand by France 
for indemnity and Boyer acceded to this de- 
mand on condition that France sign a treaty 
acknowledging the independence of Haiti. 
This was agreed to and two treaties were 
signed, but the indemnity always remained 
practically unpaid, for revolution after revolu- 
tion made a collection of the indemnity through 
a blockade impossible. 

After the death of Boyer, strong rule was 
lacking for a long time and the government 
was ever-changing, being overthrown by each 
succeeding revolution. This was largely due 
to the fact that there was no ruler who was ac- 
ceptable to both the blacks and the mulattoes, 
who were now the two constantly opposed 
factors. It is said that the Haitian flag of 
red and blue was formed from the French by 

49 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

eliminating the white even as the white race 
had been eliminated from the island, and leav- 
ing only the blue for the blacks and the red 
for the mullatoes. Nevertheless it is certain 
that these two remaining colors could not live 
in harmony together. No rule was long stable 
and frequent and serious uprisings which re- 
sulted in interference with the foreigners in 
Haiti caused the diplomatic corps many a 
critical problem. Law and order were un- 
known and few were the presidents of that 
period who died a natural death. 

Finally, in 1915, the climax came. Presi- 
dent Sam was driven from his palace by 
the mob, and chased by them through the 
streets. Finally they followed him when he 
sought refuge in the French territory of the 
legation and he was there massacred and cut to 
shreds before the eyes of the wife and children 
of the French minister. Intervention by the 
French was naturally imminent, but in order to 

50 



Every Maris Land — A Bit of History 

preserve the integrity of the Monroe Doctrine, 
America took the lead and forced the existing 
government of Haiti to accept a treaty which 
temporarily allows America a sufficiently free 
hand in Haiti to maintain law and order and to 
help the Haitians build up a civilized and 
stable government. 

And so it is that we are to-day visiting Haiti 
and that it is now possible to travel in a country 
which was previously in the throes of continual 
unrest. Whereas before the Occupation, 
practically no administration was able to com- 
plete its term of office, foreign business was 
unable to hazard investments and personal 
safety was uncertain; protection is now af- 
forded to the foreigner who comes to Haiti, 
and equality of treatment in public for all 
colors is the rule. 



51 



IV J voodoo, 

VAUDOTJX -^ 

HAITI is one of the few countries 
where State and Church still remain 
united, and to-day the Catholic clergy 
are under government pay. Roman Catholi- 
cism first became the Haitian religion when, in 
1836, the Pope was declared its head and given 
the authority to appoint its bishops. The 
priests are almost uniformly upright men who 
are working along beneficial lines among the 
natives and are one of the leading forces for 
good in the country. 

The masses in Haiti, however, do not believe 
in straight Catholicism but in Vaudouxism. 
This creed is of African origin and was intro- 
duced into Haiti when the black slaves were 
brought over by the Spanish and French. To 

52 




WOMEN CARRYING IN TO MARKET BASKETS WHICH THEY 
HAVE MADE. LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE THEY ARE CARRIED 
ON THEIR HEADS 




THE CATHEDRAL 



Vaudoux 

these original beliefs they have slowly accumu- 
lated a few Indian superstitions and very 
many of the ceremonies and attributes of 
Christianity, so that Vaudouxism as it exists 
in Haiti to-day is a unique religion. 

Vaudoux is the deity of the Vaudouxists and 
is represented as a venomless serpent. The 
human leader of the creed is a high priest se- 
lected by the followers of Vaudoux from 
among themselves and is known as Papaloi, 
and he in turn selects a high priestess who is 
called Mamanloi (corruptions of the words 
Papa Roi and Maman Roi). In these two 
personages is supposed to be the divine spark. 
But, mixed with this pure Vaudouxism, there 
is much Christian ceremony, such as the in- 
clusion of the worship of the Virgin Mary and 
the observance of Easter Day. 

Like all primitive religious cults, the Vau- 
douxists include in their rites sacrifices and 
self-inflicted punishments. Animals of vari- 

53 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

ous kinds are sacrificed at each meeting of 
Vaudouxists and the highest offering is the 
snow-white sacred goat. To the rhythm of 
Vaudoux drums or tom-toms, the worshippers 
dance themselves into excited passions for hour 
after hour, until the chief dancers, who alone 
remain, finally fall from utter exhaustion. 
During this dance the men eat pieces of glass 
and, dancing upon red-hot coals, they place 
burning pieces of charcoal in their mouth. 
And we read of the asceticism of the Middle 
Ages and think of it as a bygone phrase! 

Often at the Vaudoux meetings the partici- 
pants become maddened by the liquor and 
revel, and debauchery finally prevails in its 
lowest forms, until the meeting breaks up at 
dawn. But the endurance of the chief dancers 
who continue for five, six and seven hours with- 
out ceasing for a moment, is truly marvelous. 

So great is the fear of Vaudoux inbred in 
the Haitian that even with those who are civil- 

54 



Vaudoux 

ized and cultured, many remain in awe of 
Vaudoux or are restrained from exerting their 
influence against it through fear of poisoning, 
for the Haitians are arch-poisoners. And 
thus, though many Haitians of the upper 
classes are nominally good Catholics, they are 
still to a more or less extent subservient to 
Vaudoux superstitions and avoid openly op- 
posing the demonstrations of it by their coun- 
trymen. 

Many of the presidents of Haiti were them- 
selves Vaudoux priests and but two among 
them took any active measures toward repress- 
ing it. These two were Geffrard and Boisson- 
Canal and the act meant their downfall, for 
Vaudouxism is habitually aided or winked at 
by the Government. Toussaint L'Overture 
was an out-and-out Catholic and took definite 
measures against Vaudouxism, but in his day 
the beliefs were not so strong and it was much 
easier to repress its practice. 

55 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

It is now impossible for the Vaudouxists to 
openly hold their meetings near the towns and 
they are forced to find some rendezvous among 
the hills. But in the towns the natives still 
hold their dances, where they dance the weird 
"bambeula" to the beat of the tom-tom very 
much as they do at the real Vaudoux meetings. 
The tom-toms are made out of a hollow log and 
two skins which are made taut over each end of 
the log. The tom-tom beater is skilled and as 
particular about his instrument and how it is 
tuned up (by tightening or loosening the bind- 
ings of the skins) as any violinist. The tom- 
tom beater knows many different native tunes. 

And so Vaudouxism still prevails the driv- 
ing religious force of most Haitians. The 
most uncivilized are out-and-out worshippers 
and regularly attend the Vaudoux rendezvous, 
but the higher classes are ashamed to confess 
their subservience to Vaudouxism to foreign- 
ers and consequently many pose as Catholics 

56 



Vaudoux 



although sometimes they are themselves Papa- 
lois. And then there are those Haitians who are 
truly Catholics, and these are in most cases 
those who have been educated abroad. They 
are usually of the younger generation. But 
as I have shown they dislike intensely to come 
out openly against the practice of Vaudoux- 
ism by other Haitians. 

The elimination of Vaudouxism, in fact, 
rests almost entirely upon the shoulders of the 
Americans. And this elimination is imperative 
for Vaudouxism is, not so much a religious evil, 
but an unmoral and uncivilizing factor. It is 
Vaudouxism, too, which makes more difficult 
the fighting of the cacos; for Vaudoux priests 
have, through their hold upon the religious 
fear of the Vaudouxists, tremendous power 
over all their doings. Upon the sounding of a 
Vaudoux drum the priest can very often do 
about what he wants with his followers. Prob- 
ably all of the caco chiefs are Vaudoux priests 

57 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

and thus hold together bands which, freed from 
religious scruples, would abandon their pur- 
pose of brigandry. For example, in the Janu- 
ary raid, many of the cacos who had been 
wounded, admitted that they had gone into 
the attack only because of their belief that the 
Vaudoux charms which they wore made them 
invulnerable. 

One Sunday while I was waiting at the 
Gendarme headquarters at Leogane there 
was being held there the weekly meeting of 
the "Communale" and the Gendarme officer 
told me that the chief of this force was one of 
the natives who had always joined in every 
revolution which had reached that part of the 
country and the third chief was formerly an 
ally of the great caco leader, Charlemagne. A 
strange band, certainly, to be the guardians 
of law and order. But it was, after all, rea- 
sonable. These men were the most intelligent 
in their neighborhood and then of course it was 

58 



Vaudoux 

infinitely better to have such men in a place 
where their salaries would keep them law-abid- 
ing than to have them outside the law and in- 
citing trouble against a less capable govern- 
ment force. 

It is very difficult to establish any sort of 
efficient and just civil force because of the 
ignorance of the vast majority of the Haitian 
population. The number of intelligent, or 
partly intelligent men in a country district is 
small, and it is the intelligent men in these sec- 
tions who are usually in league with the cacos, 
either openly or secretly. And with the 
magistrates there is another obstacle which 
prevents the execution of justice. Ever since 
the beginnings of Haitian history, graft has 
been so natural and accepted a thing with gov- 
ernment officials that it is inborn in the present 
generation and time alone will ever wipe it out. 

At present with a large number of the 
magistrates impartial judgment is unknown 

59 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

and the local law verdict goes to the highest 
bidder. First one side buys up the judge and 
then the other until finally one party is forced 
to give in through lack of resources. The 
chief drawback in attempting to eliminate such 
graft is the ridiculously low pay given to a 
magistrar. It is but natural for a judge to 
seek outside gains in order that he may earn a 
living. When a Haitian dies, and some of the 
more prosperous of them have accumulated 
fortunes of over a hundred thousand dollars, 
the heirs or even outsiders who are on the spot 
loot his wealth and leave nothing for any ab- 
sent members of the family. The latter are 
unable to obtain justice later because the first- 
comers have carefully bought up the local offi- 
cials with a portion of their new gains. 

This unfair state of local government can 
be remedied only slowly and by the gradual 
elimination of the idea of graft as an expected 

60 




A SOURCE OF THE GREATEST GOOD— THE ROMAN CATHOLIC 
SISTERS AT ONE OF THE MANY CONVENTS ON THE ISLAND 




THE HEAD NURSE AT THE PUBLIC HOSPITAL WITH HER CORPS 
OF HAITIAN NURSES 



Vau&ouoc 

right of a government official. But as I have 
pointed out the raising of the magistrate's sal- 
ary is a prerequisite. The low salary now 
paid is of course due to the lack of funds which 
hinders the development of the country at 
every turn. 

Under the provisions of the American 
treaty with Haiti, the entire financial situation 
was placed, during the duration of the treaty, 
in the hands of a financial advisor, who, having 
been nominated by the President of the United 
States, is appointed by the President of Haiti. 
Addison P. Kuan was the first appointee and 
served in Haiti for two years until he was 
transferred to take the same post in Panama. 
Following Mr. Ruan, John A. Mcllhenny 
came to Haiti and, realizing like his predeces- 
sor the urgent need for money with which to 
develop the country, he has been steadily at 
work to put through a Haitian loan in the 

61 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

United States. This is of course at present 
impossible due to the abnormal financial situa- 
tion in this country. 

The financial advisor in Haiti has the au- 
thority to make all appropriations of the state 
money and his word is final as to their expendi- 
ture. In this respect Haiti is being run, dur- 
ing the treaty period, in very much the same 
way as India is governed by England, except 
that no treasurer is needed in Haiti, as the 
Haitian National Bank serves that purpose. 



62 



PUBLIC EDUCATION AND NORMIL CHARLES 

MDANTES BELLEGARDE, 
Minister of Public Instruction, 
• had told us that he would be glad 
to show us through the schools of Port-au- 
Prince. We therefore arranged a date and 
set out one morning to make the tour. With 
us went also the American Advisor to the 
department, Mr. Bourgeois. 

At the time the treaty was made between 
Haiti and the United States, no provision was 
arranged for the Department of Education, 
as was done with the Sanitary and Engineer- 
ing Departments. Thus the development 
made possible through the more direct assist- 
ance from Washington has been unattainable 
in the school work, and although the work we 

63 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

saw being carried on was a remarkably inspir- 
ing demonstration of accomplishments, yet the 
small proportion which is being done of what 
could be done if greater means were available 
is quite discouraging. It is the same cry as 
one raises on every hand : If only they had the 
means ! 

Two years ago, three years after the treaty 
was signed, Mr. Bourgeois came to Haiti, but 
only in the capacity of an Advisor responsible 
to the Haitian Government alone and not as 
a league official. His force is largely re- 
stricted to negative powers. 

It is indeed fortunate that a mind of re- 
markable keenness and a power for practical 
work exists in the person of the present Min- 
ister, M. Bellegarde. But should a man of 
lesser force take his place, as has happened 
within recent years, the result would be de- 
plorable. Also, M. Bellegarde could carry his 
work much further if he had the proper flnan- 

64 



Public Education and Normil Charles 



cial and other material aid of the United States 
Educational Department. 

Although compulsory educations is legally 
a fact, there is, in reality, a force of teachers 
and equipment for but 18,000 of the 200,000 
children of the proper age. Many of these 
children are in the country districts where good 
teachers, who even in the city are at a premium, 
are almost an unknown factor. This feature 
is being remedied as far as practicable, all 
the time, and the teachers in the rural schools 
are being carefully examined. Some of these 
have been found to be utterly unable to correct 
their pupils' simple exercises and these teach- 
ers are being dropped. But, though it is thus 
very simple to drop an incompetent teacher, it 
is a manifold more difficult task to replace him. 
The pay for teachers is $6 per month and so, 
even low as wages are in Haiti, the position 
of teacher is not so lucrative as to have very 
many applicants. 



65 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

The salaries cannot .be raised. It is the old 
story of lack of money. Nearly half of the 
annual appropriation for public instruction is 
being swallowed up by the present salaries of 
the present number of teachers. The re- 
mainder is naturally barely sufficient to main- 
tain the existing schools. No new advances 
are possible. 

Fortunately, besides the public schools of 
Haiti, there are numerous privately run ones, 
nearly always under religious or parti-religious 
supervision. The Catholics . are the most 
frequent benefactors and are doing by far the 
greater part of the work. Originally, before 
the present public school system was created, 
these schools, missions, or convents were in 
part supported by the state ; but gradually this 
assistance is being necessarily taken away. 

Our first visit was to a school run by Belgian 
Sisters. It was a school for girls only and was 
still supported in part by the Government. 

66 



Public Education and Normil Charles 



For the younger children the work consists 
mostly of such studies as would be taught in a 
primary school in the States, great stress being 
laid upon the speaking of good French. This 
is particularly important because the natural 
tongue of the lower classes of natives- is Creole, 
which in Haiti consists of an ungrammatical 
and corrupted language drawn principally 
from the French, but also with traces of Eng- 
lish, Spanish and early Indian words. Some 
Creole words seem to defy a tracing of their 
origin. Although the natives may understand 
you if you speak French to them, it is impos- 
sible for you to make out what they say, though 
you may know French perfectly. 

"Vini non" is a Creole expression used con- 
tinually to mean "come here!" Its derivation 
is certainly obscure. Nor is Creole the same 
all over the republic. Each section has its 
own dialect which is distinct. 

After the children learn the first elements 



67 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

of grammar school work, they begin to work 
a part of the day at embroidery, sewing and 
knitting. Thus the vocational work is gradu- 
ally increased and before the girls graduate 
they are given training which fits them to be 
efficient servants. Vocational schools of this 
type are just what Haiti needs most of all. 
They serve the double purpose of training the 
natives to obtain a good living and they also 
furnish a means by which the better-off may 
secure good servants and workers. 

Downstairs in the school building are the 
school and work rooms — upstairs the dormi- 
tory. The dormitory consists of one large 
room covering the entire top of the house and 
filled with cots for every boarder. For every 
two cots there is also provided a washstand 
which contains places where they may keep 
their personal articles. The entire effect was 
of an establishment thoroughly modern and 
scrupulously clean. Besides these girls who 

68 




MAGISTRAR'S STAKD OF WHICH THERE IS ONE IN EVERY 

TOWN 




THE NEW PRESIDENT S PALACE 



Public Education and Nor mil Charles 

come from the country districts and board, 
the school has also a great many day pupils 
who live at their homes in town. 

The next school we went to was a non-voca- 
tional one under the direction of an order of 
French Brothers. It was solely for boys, just 
as the first was only a girls' school, for the 
morals of the country do not permit the adop- 
tion of co-education, even though the pupils 
are of the earliest ages. 

The priests who conduct this institution are 
certainly as fine a type of self-sacrificing men 
who are aiding a truly worthy cause as I can 
imagine. They see the tremendous possibili- 
ties and without limiting their efforts to what 
they could accomplish with a normal amount 
of work they undertake almost superhuman 
attempts. Of the Brothers who come to 
Haiti, their average length of life after arriv- 
ing is but 12 years, so killing is their work. 
The normal amount of work for a professor 

69 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

in the United States is about 18 hours a week, 
but the Brothers in Haiti teach for 8 hours 
every single day. And every effort which 
they put into it is unwasted and has a telling 
effect in the result. 

There are 11 grades of scholars taught by 
the Brothers, from the earliest kindergarten 
to the graduation class who would correspond 
to high school students. The boys are given 
work in geography, history, spelling, French, 
mathematics and other things which would be 
taught in any American school. I looked over 
the copy books of the younger boys and the 
neatness and excellent penmanship of even 
children of six was amazing. All of the chil- 
dren seemed to be naturally gifted at free- 
hand drawing. One little boy of eight, when 
asked what his favorite subject was, replied: 
"My national emblem." He drew therewith a 
fine representation of a palm tree. 

70 



Public Education and Normil Charles 

Although the order of Brothers is French, 
not all of them are Frenchmen. Several are 
Americans, a few Canadians and Portuguese, 
and one, a Haitian Brother. 

Our third and last visit was to the Ecole 
Normale d'Industrie. The graduating pupils 
here act as teachers of the younger ones. 
This school is one of the public schools and as 
we went through it, M. Bellegarde proudly 
pointed to a particularly fine-looking little boy. 
"That is my son." We went through many 
classrooms full of scholars of different ages 
studying in very much the same way as chil- 
dren study in America. It seemed a cause 
for hope to look at this public school through 
which the Haitian children were being made 
to see the advantages of education and the op- 
portunity to rise. When every Haitian child 
will be able to have such instruction and train- 
ing then his genration will be able to throw off 

71 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

the yoke of past superstitions and dispel the 
ignorance which has been holding back the 
masses. 

♦Following this tour of the few schools which 
time allowed us to visit, M. Bellegarde took us 
to the studio of Normil Charles. M. Charles 
is a Haitian sculptor who has remarkable 
genius and is one of the leading sculptors of 
the world. He studied in Paris for a number 
of years, and has received many decorations 
and honors. As we entered his studio, in front 
of us we saw a huge bronze which he is doing 
for the Government and which is to be placed 
in the Champ de Mars. It is called "The 
Benefactor" and is the statue of a great public- 
spirited man. At his feet kneels a peasant 
woman, with babe in arms, mourning his death. 
The piece would certainly be a work of the 
first class anywhere and the country may well 
be proud that one of its citizens is its author. 

In the studio, too, was the bust of Dessalines, 

72 



Public Education and Normil Charles 

done by Charles, and which I had seen six 
months before in the Pan-American Building 
in Washington, where it remained for some 
time. 

M. Charles, himself, is a delightful man, 
well-mannered and interesting. But he is in- 
deed a strange product of a country which for 
so many years has been kept down by revolu- 
tion with the resulting isolation and lack of 
opportunity to devote time to the pursuits of 
peace. 



73 



VI 

THE PRESIDENT 

FROM the studio of M. Charles, M. 
Bellegarde took us to see the new pal- 
ace. It is a huge structure, quite like 
a palace in appearance, and made of white 
stucco. It is more than twice the size of our 
White House and is shaped like the letter E, 
with the three wings running back from the 
front. In the main hall huge columns rise to 
the ceiling and at each side a staircase winds 
up to the second floor. 

While we were starting to go through the 
palace the guard had apprised President 
Dartiguenave of our presence and we were 
surprised and delighted to have him send word 
that he would be glad to receive us. Although 
the left wing of the building is to be the Presi- 

74 



The President 



dent's private suite, it is as yet uncompleted 
and he is at present occupying the opposite 
end. We entered the President's office, where 
he rose from his desk to meet us, and to usher 
us through to the Cabinet room. This room 
is large, like all the rooms — perhaps 40 feet 
square — and with a long table in the center 
surrounded by chairs. Here the President 
meets his Cabinet. 

The President is a man of medium height 
and has the bearing of an aristocrat. His 
hair and beard are gray which contribute to 
his good appearance. He is rather light in 
color and, indeed, is the first president for a 
long time who has not been a black. The 
President does not speak English but under- 
stands and speaks French perfectly. Al- 
together he is a delightful, cultured man and 
a suitable head for the Republic. 

From the balcony of the palace there is an 
excellent view, overlooking the entire town and 

75 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

the harbor beyond. The next room to visit 
was the "Salle Diplomatique" where all official 
receptions are held. This had just been deco- 
rated but was as yet unfinished. The Presi- 
dent personally escorted us to it and after- 
wards to his future private suite. He then 
showed us downstairs and out to the car, where 
^we left both the President and M. Bellegarde. 



76 




WHITE WINGS OF PORT-AU-PRINCE 




't^twt*,-^" 



MARKET WOMEN LEAVING TOWN ON THEIR BURROS 



VII 

A MORNING HUNT 

AS I left the house one morning at two, 
the yard boys next door were already 
at work and in town the "white wings" 
— an American institution — were about. 
Three of us joggled along for 22 miles for an 
early duck shoot and talked of many things, 
among them concerning a proposed map of 
Haiti. The existing one is grossly inaccurate 
as is easily shown by an airplane flight or a 
ship attempting to follow many of the chan- 
nels. There is no triangulation point in Haiti 
and so the present coast line on the maps is the 
result of a certain number of bearings from 
off shore, with the remainder a matter of free- 
hand filling-in. The use of airplanes in here- 
tofore untried ways will be employed to aid 

77 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

in the exact location of towns and be a means 
of a great saving of tedious traverse work. 

In town, life was already stirring, as I have 
shown. This is nothing unusual for it is the 
customary hour for the Haitian to begin his 
day. By 6 the "gentlemen about town" are 
in the streets with their canes and Stetsons, 
debating the fall of the cabinet or the latest 
development in the gourde situation. But out 
in the country everything was still dark and 
the market women had barely started to bring 
their load into town. So we met no one — ex- 
cept twice the marine patrol car on its route. 

Just outside the portals marking the limits 
of Port-au-Prince on which are inscribed the 
words: "Peace, Justice, Work," is the historic 
Pont Rouge. This is the spot where revolu- 
tionary troops coming down from the moun- 
tains and across the plains would first meet 
the forces of the existing government of Port- 
au-Prince. Here the great Dessalines, com- 

78 



A Morning Hunt 



ing into town at the head of his troops, met 
what he believed to be a guard of his own 
troops. His own general was leading them, 
but had betrayed Dessalines, and the President 
was soon left wounded in the roadway to die. 
It had been Dessalines who, it is said, sported 
himself by pulling out the eyes of his prisoners 
with corkscrews. 

The streets in Port-au-Prince are wide as- 
phalt pavements and would be adapted for 
speeding but for the presence in the center and 
sides promiscuously of unruly "burros," naked 
babies playing in the dirt, odd Haitian pigs 
looking like some new species of animal, and 
pedestrians of strange sorts. This is true, 
also, for some distance out on the Hasco road, 
over which we went. But after a few miles 
we came out upon one of the new roads which 
has been put down throughout the island by 
the Haitian Government under the supervision 
of the Gendarmerie and of an engineering 

79 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

force loaned to them by the United States. 
In all, about 500 miles of excellent roadways 
have been put down since the American inter- 
vention. 

In this work the budget system is now used 
and as every payment is actually handed out 
by one of the American engineers himself, the 
graft which was formerly rampant has been 
eliminated. In the days of pre- American in- 
tervention a sum of, let us assume, $50,000 was 
voted to build a road. $5,000 of this regularly 
went to the President and $500 to each Senator 
who would vote for the appropriation. This 
left, generally, about $10,000, or one-fifth, for 
actual road building work. 

The Haitians have proven to be good engi- 
neers and except for the pay roll, large pieces 
of work are often carried on by them without 
assistance from the Americans. 

The first part of the road which we struck 
was excellent but after branching off the main 

80 



A Morning Hunt 



road to Pont Beudet we came to the new part. 
Roads of this type, which is the one generally- 
used, are macadam with good foundation of 
different sized stones and 20 feet in width. 
The top dressing is a good binding gravel 
which can be found within short distances 
along almost all of the roads which they are 
now building. A temporary track is run from 
each gravel pit along the side of the road until 
a mile or so on another pit is dug and the rails 
taken up and laid down from the new pit on. 
The gravel is thus carried to where it is needed 
by a small engine and a few cars. There is in 
this way no long-distance hauling. 

Finally we turned off the new road to a 
clearing through a cactus desert at the edge of 
Lake Troucaiman. Above either shore two 
mountain ranges run parallel for miles, far 
above the lake. The lake itself is open water 
in the central portion but by far the greater 
part is filled with a mass of lily, mangrove and 

81 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

reed growth. Often it is so dense as to be en- 
tirely impenetrable. 

When we arrived at Troucaiman it was not 
yet daylight and only the candles in the few 
"cailles" along the road could be seen. Upon 
the approach of the car, five or six natives ap- 
peared, knowing from past experience what 
we had come for, and with our French and 
their Creole, interspersed by numerous ges- 
tures, we made our plans. Each of us started 
out, alone in his own tiny dugout of about a 
foot wide and four feet long and with his own 
native in the back to pole him about. The 
guides had taken off the few rags which they 
wore and one by one we were shoved off. Part 
of the time we were poled, part of the time the 
craft stuck and the native had to wade along 
beside to keep us going. 

We went on and on in the blackness until 
finally one could distinguish black shapes aris- 
ing from the water or whirring past. It came 

82 



A Morning Hunt 



at last — the gray dawn for which we had been 
waiting. A teal went overhead with its char- 
acteristic rapid flight. A slower-flying red- 
head and later a scaup passed. And all 
around were hundreds upon hundreds of 
Egrets, great white forms which flappingly 
arose when we approached too near. 

To the natives there are four kinds of ducks : 
"gens-gens," which is a species of tree duck; 
"cecele" or blue-winged teal; "cucurem" or 
ruddy duck; and any other duck is known as 
"canard generale." All of the first three spe- 
cies are abundant, as are also the scaup, bald- 
pate, redhead and Bahaman pintail. 

We met at nine on the shore, which by day- 
light looked very different than when we had 
left it, and after some refreshments and com- 
paring of our respective bags, we started home. 
There are no game laws in Haiti, so that your 
bag is only limited by your lack of skill. Half 
way in to Port-au-Prince is the spot where two 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

months before three Haitian engineers had 
been murdered in the "caille" where they were 
spending the night. The men were working 
on the road I have spoken of, but as the caco 
trouble had been active in that district just 
before the men were murdered, these men had 
been duly forewarned not to spend the night. 

Frequently I used to go out on these shoot- 
ing trips, but not always to Troucaiman. Two 
other spots were alternated, Miragoane in the 
west and the salt lakes beyond Troucaiman. 
These salt lakes are two decidedly brackish 
bodies of water which lie on the border of Haiti 
and Santo Domingo. They are at the end 
of the Plain of the Cul-de-Sac, and a few miles 
beyond the town of Thomaseau. The water 
is as clear as a crystal and the scenery amid 
these wonderful lakes and the mountains above 
them is splendid. 

In the opposite direction, and 70 miles west 
of Port-au-Prince, is Lake Miragoane. It is 

84 




TYPICAL CAILLE NEAR FURCY 



A few banana and coffee trees (on the left) are 
all that each one has 




RAILWAY TO LEOGANE 



A Morning Hunt 



just beyond Petit Goave. The lake is large, 
being about eight miles long. In a part of 
the lake we had particularly good teal shooting 
and by moonlight thousands of "gens-gens" 
would come in to feed in the shallows overnight. 
Long before dawn they had vanished again. 

It is a difficult lake to shoot upon, however. 
The mud flats from the shore are long and 
reach far out into the lake so that it is prac- 
tically impossible to use a dugout for some dis- 
tance. Thus it was necessary to walk out in 
shallow water and deep mud. The water, 
very unlike the salt lake water, was thick, 
filthy and always gave one an itching sensa- 
tion for hours after having been in it. 

Beside the duck shooting at Miragoane, 
there is excellent snipe shooting during certain 
seasons and good guinea shooting also. It is 
a strange thing to have guineas in Haiti. 
The guinea is a native of Africa which only 
reached the new world in a domesticated state. 

85 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

The present birds are descendants of the do- 
mesticated ones left by the French planters 
during the revolution and which have reverted 
to the wild state in the intervening generations. 
Doves, as everywhere in Haiti are also abun- 
dant, and form a good shoot and a good meal. 



86 



VIII 

PINE NEEDLES 

THE mountains had changed from green 
to violet and from violet to black and 
the new moon silhouetted the peaks 
from 10,000 foot summits to the sea. From 
Furcy, the next range to the east seemed with- 
in hands' reach across the valleys and hills as 
its mountains rose ten miles or ten hours by 
trail away. Our sweaters and blankets felt 
barely enough as the wind howled around us. 
With closed eyes we knew from its tell-tale 
sound that pine trees surrounded us and that 
the winds were blowing stronger and stronger 
through their needles. 

We climbed the hill with difficulty over the 
slippery matting of pine needles to pick 
bananas along the road. And we were in the 

87 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

tropics, with pine cones, palm and bananas 
growing side by side. Thanking Providence 
that I am alive while such country still exists, 
untouched by man's civilization, I gazed for 
dozens of miles over several mountain ranges 
with their valleys and hills overlapping to the 
sea on two sides of the island. These bits of 
water looked far away indeed. 

With only a rough, mountain-stream bed 
winding for miles to the nearest town, we were 
apart by so much from white man — but in 
point of effect upon the country as far as be- 
fore Columbus saw the first redskin when he 
landed on the north shore of the island. 

Tucked away in the valleys we could see the 
lights of many native "cailles" and we knew 
that there were many more unseen. With 
plaster and sticks for walls they are roofed by 
thatching of straw overhanging the walls and 
sloping up to a peak. In every part of Haiti 
they are there, each the same with its 2 or 3 

88 



Pine Needles 



coffee trees, its few bananas and that is about 
all. Along the road are the market women. 
Every so often, perhaps once a week, they take 
their bananas or coffee to town, a walk for 
some of 18 hours' steady going, to sell it at the 
Port-au-Prince market for about 50 cents 
gold. 

And the natives are satisfied — in fact they 
do not want things to be any different. They 
have enough to live on and have no desires 
which more energy would gratify. For amuse- 
ment they have their cock fights, when all the 
neighborhood gathers and each man brings his 
trained rooster. And in the evenings they 
have their native dances with tom-tom music 
and native rum, taffia, clcdrin and rum, the 
first entirely unrefined, the second somewhat 
refined, and the third refined, though very 
often not of an excellent grade. But some 
Haitian rum can be easily obtained which is 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

excellent and of just about as good quality as 
Jamaica rum. 

And then, of course, besides the bananas 
and coffee which they sell, the natives in the 
hills burn charcoal and carry this, whenever 
they need money, to town for 60 cts. a donkey 
load. 

We had left Port-au-Prince in the morning 
by car to Petionville, 1200 feet above the sea, 
and from there had changed to horseback. 
With our pack-mules and gendarme guides 
we left Petionville at noon and started the 
winding trail up the first mountain range. 
The going was slow as the trail is mostly steep 
and in places merely a stream-bed filled with 
loose rocks. Within the first hour we were 
far up and could look upon Petionville just 
below us and beyond it the broad plain of the 
Cul-de-Sac with its many squares of bright 
green sugar cane cut in the brown-gray cactus 

90 



Pine Needles 



land. As a background for this flat valley 
rose the mountains of Mirebalais continuing 
beyond the ends of the plain to the sea and 1 to 
the salt lakes. Just this side of the salt lakes 
was a mass of water and reeds, looking very 
insignificant, which was the familiar Troucai- 
man. It was like an aerial photograph of this 
entire section of the country but with perspec- 
tive and magnificently varied coloration. 

And so we went on over the second range 
to get our first glimpse of Kenskoff — a tiny 
mountain village half-way up the third moun- 
tain slope. We climbed up the winding trails 
which sometimes consisted of cuts through the 
mountains, but generally paths cut in the 
mountainside, with the crest high above us and 
the base far below. At Kenskoff is a tiny white 
chapel with the Pope's flag of white and yellow 
marking it from a long distance. This out- 
post of Christianity is visited perhaps once a 



91 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

month by the priest of the neighborhood on 
his rounds. 

After watering our horses and having a few 
eggs and sandwiches, we left Kenskoff and 
the mountains became more barren. A red- 
tailed hawk soared in the valley below us and 
from the roadside we flushed flocks of mourn- 
ing dove at every curve. And then we reached 
Furcy, and around the side of the mountain 
we suddenly came upon the entire panorama 
of each succeeding range rolling up from the 
distant ones, which were in Santo Domingo, to 
drop from 10,000 feet to the valley below us 
and rise again to our pathway of about one 
mile high. 

It was a clear night with a new moon, so 
only a few tjny clouds floated below us in the 
valleys and above only the black and gold of a 
starlit night. 



92 



k* * .-***. « 


> ^^.^fc 


jig* / •; ^:;;-l:rr 


P^*;' & *»* -f iiiili»iranP 1 ' 


K ^ 



ON THE ST. MARC ROAD AFTER THE HEAVY RAINS 



IX 

COTTON 

THE week before Christmas we started 
off on a motor trip as the guests of 
Mr. and Mrs. H. P. Davis. Mr. Davis 
is the Vice-President of the United West In- 
dies Corporation, an American concern which 
is engaged in developing the resources of 
Haiti. Although operating throughout the 
Republic, the largest plantation of the com- 
pany is near St. Michel in the north-central 
portion, where for miles the country is a vast 
fertile plain and thus peculiarly valuable as 
agricultural land. The soil is virgin — un- 
touched and unused except in the early Span- 
ish days, centuries ago, for cattle grazing. That 
part of Haiti near and to the westward of 
St. Michel was never in the possession of the 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

French as was the rest of the Republic, but 
was held by the Spanish until driven back to 
the present Dominican border by the Haitians 
themselves. 

The first day's ride of about seven hours 
brought us to St. Michel. The route from 
Port-au-Prince for two-thirds of the way is 
along the bay to Gona'ives. From there the 
road goes directly inland. The country 
through which one passes during these hours 
contains many changes, for from the fertile 
plains outside of Port-au-Prince, where castor 
bean and sugar cane are growing, there is 
suddenly a cessation of verdant growth be- 
yond St. Marc, and for miles a near-desert 
stretches out. The road is merely a clearing 
of the cactus growth which closes in on either 
side and consists of queer-looking species of 
cacti. The soil is sandy, the air humid, and 
the thorny mass on every side impenetrable. 
Every now and then we would pass partly 

94 



Cotton 

wild mules kicking down the trunk of a cactus 
to drink the water it contained; and as we 
pased, some of the natives would rush madly 
into the bushes from fright. It is not so long 
since they saw their first motor and they are 
still filled with fear when «one appears. 

From the plains of Dessalines, a few miles 
south of Gonaives, there is an excellent view 
of the three old Haitian forts in the mountains 
back of the plain. Here the Hardens re- 
treated to wait until the forces should come 
across the plains to attack them. It is easy 
to see how difficult it was for any force to 
attempt to attack the Haitians when once in- 
trenched in their forts, situated on cliffs and 
with hidden trails leading to them. 

Stopping for a moment in the plains, we 
saw a woman coming up to the car. We 
found out that she wished to sell her baby if 
she could get a few gourdes (20-cent pieces 
of our money but corresponding in Haiti to a 

95 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

dollar) for it. Again at Gonai'ves a small boy- 
begged us to take him home and keep him, in 
exchange for which he would do any work we 
might wish. This sort of temporary slavery 
which many children enter into or are sold into 
by their parents lasts generally until they are 
of age, during which time they do any work 
which you may assign them to. It is a common 
custom. 

From Gonai'ves the road to St. Michel passes 
through Ennery and it was on the outskirts of 
this town that we stopped for luncheon. The 
spot was a clearing in a forest with huge an- 
cient trees and little coffee bushes surround- 
ing. In the clearing were the stone pillars, 
some still erect, some fallen, of what was once 
the palace of Toussaint L'Overture. 

Beyond Ennery there is a stiff climb for a 
number of miles until finally one comes out on 
the plateau which constitutes the plains of St. 
Michel. Passing through the town, which is 

96 



Cotton 

at the southern end of the plain of Atalaye, we 
went a short distance before arriving at the 
headquarters of the plantation. Here we spent 
the night. The main building is a very at- 
tractive structure, all the rooms of which ex- 
cept the kitchen and office being on the second 
floor. All around is a second-story veranda 
supported by wooden posts from below. We 
sat late watching the headlights of the tractors 
moving about ceaselessly over the plains. 

The next day was spent in looking over the 
plantation and seeing the new long staple cot- 
ton which they are growing in large quanti- 
ties. Also, in the afternoon we had a long 
ride across the plains and afterward a guinea 
and dove shoot. 

At 6 on the morning of the second day we 
started out in our car for Cap Haitien. After 
passing Ennery the road begins to climb up 
and up, gaining the steep ascent only by curv- 
ing and recurving along the side of each moun- 

97 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

tain slope. The range was the Puilboreaux 
Mountains which climatically divide the island 
into the north and south. In Port-au-Prince 
and all of southern Haiti we were in the middle 
of the dry season, as I have said. But after we 
were over the summit of Puilboreaux all was 
changed. The foliage, which on the southern 
slope was dry, was now verdant and profuse, 
the road muddy instead of dusty and every- 
where flowers of all kinds flourished. Each 
woods had the orchids out in bloom. 

Once over the top of Puilboreau, the view 
is wonderful. Mountains miles away look very 
near and just below it seems, though it is really 
far, lies the valley of Plaisance with the little 
white buildings of the town tucked away in the 
center. 

Before reaching the Cap, as Cap Haitian is 
called throughout Haiti, it is necessary to ford 
the Limbe River. Normally this is very sim- 
ple and a motor will cross over without any 

98 



Cotton 

trouble. Sometimes, however, in the floods 
of the rainy season it becomes impassable and 
crossing is impossible for days at a time. When 
we arrived it was doubtful, but we were in- 
formed that with the aid of the prisoners in 
the gendarme prison there, it would be possi- 
ble. We started, pulled by a rope, pushed by 
forty black figures with rags to indicate the 
prison cloth, out into midstream under the di- 
rection of a gendarme. But half way out we 
stuck, the car filled with water to the seats and 
only after everyone was up to his neck in 
water beside the car helping to push it, did 
we finally arrive on the other side. 

Cap Haitien is to-day not a very important 
town, compared to Port-au-Prince, but it was 
the capital in the French days, and the center 
of a large amount of commerce. It shows, un- 
like other towns, decided traces of the Spanish 
architecture. The harbor is beautiful and along 
the side there runs a drive to the eastward. 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

The great sight of the north I did not see. 
It is the Citadel and Sans Souci, the palace 
of Christophe. In the mountains far above 
the Cap the Citadel lay surrounded by mist 
except for a few minutes early the next morn- 
ing, when the clouds were swept away and 
we got one glimpse of the Citadel. But we 
were unable to take the trail which winds up 
to the palace and the Citadel because of the 
heavy rains which at that time flooded the re- 
gion. 



100 




HAITIAN WOMEN WASHING THEIR CLOTHES IN A DITCH 




THE AMERICAN CLUB 



GOURDES 

THE blood of the present-day Haitian is 
largely a mixture of French and black. 
The Indian aborigines were totally 
eliminated from Haiti by the Spaniard, so that 
unlike the most of Latin America, the Indians 
or their descendants form no part of the popu- 
lation. The Spaniard, in turn, was driven 
from Haiti by the French before he had left 
much of an imprint and his blood forms a negli- 
gible factor to-day. The English, although in 
Haiti, were there so short a time as to leave 
no strain of British blood. And so the French 
blood is predominant. 

Also, all the closest connections of Haiti 
are still with France, or were up to the time 
of the American Occupation. Creole is based 

101 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

more fundamentally upon French than any 
other language and the conversation of the 
higher classes is pure French. Many Haitians 
go each year to Paris to study or to visit, and 
many of the most prominent are educated 
there. 

When the Americans took the leading role 
in Haiti there naturally arose with greater 
force the race question. The feeling between 
black and white is so much stronger between 
most Americans and the black races than it is 
in the case of Europeans, that it becomes a 
serious problem. It is foolishly intolerant of 
the American who goes to Haiti to assume an 
attitude of mental or social superiority over 
the Haitian because he is a black. It would be 
equally absurd for the Haitian to attempt to 
break through the walls of prejudice and to 
expect all Americans and Haitians to mix with 
ease. Although it is most certainly true that 
America has an infinitely more thorough 

102 



Gourdes 

knowledge and is more capable of government 
than is Haiti, yet the Haitians have what many 
Americans of even the upper classes often lack, 
a knowledge of culture and excellent manners. 

There is only one sane social attitude to take 
in the dealings of Haitian and American. The 
American must remember, as he should when 
he travels anywhere, that he is dealing with 
foreigners. He must value them according to 
their own standards and live his own life ac- 
cording to the standards of America. Let the 
American in Haiti, if he does not care to mix 
with the Haitians, not do so, but when he meets 
them treat them as their education and culture 
entitles them to be treated. 

The Haitians understand well the attitude 
of the Americans. They saw the failure of 
the attempts in the early days to mix freely. 
They now are anxious to meet the American 
men but wait for the Americans to take any 
initiative in a social way. 

103 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

In Port-au-Prince there is the American 
Club, whose membership is limited to Ameri- 
cans. It is situated on Tourgeau Street, one 
of the main residential streets, and has a most 
attractive clubhouse. Beside it there are two 
excellent clay tennis courts, where each after- 
noon the men play and are later joined for 
bridge or conversation by the ladies. Oppor- 
tunity there is, too, for rum punches and cock- 
tails, for Haiti is one of the "wet islands." 

Every other Saturday night and in between 
time upon the arrival of a foreign warship or 
some occasion of this kind, dances are held at 
the Club at which either the Gendarmerie band 
or a small native string orchestra play. 

The foreign personnel in Haiti consists 
chiefly of the Marine officers and treaty offi- 
cials and their families. This is supplemented 
by members of the diplomatic corps and busi- 
ness men who are either engaged in business 
in Haiti or who are there looking over the 

104 



^Gourdes 

country in view of future investments. And so 
there is a good-sized foreign colony, mostly 
American, in Port-au-Prince, which has a so- 
cial life all of its own. 

There are two chief Haitian clubs — the 
Cercle Bellevue and the Port-au-Prince. The 
latter is a young men's club and is located 
on the Champ de Mars next to Brigade Head- 
quarters. The Cercle Bellevue is the more 
representative and has a beautiful building in 
the upper part of town. Its members number 
as well as the Haitians, certain Americans who 
have been invited to join. Frequent dances 
are given by the Cercle Bellevue and they are, 
like all Latin American parties, far gayer and 
more elaborate than the American ones. Rare- 
ly does a party break up before 5 a.m. 

Nowhere in the world could more elaborate 
and yet correct entertainments be given than 
the Haitians have. During my visit the Ar- 
gentine warship "Nuevo de Julio" came into 

105 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

Port-au-Prince and was the occasion for many 
entertainments, among them a luncheon to the 
American officers which was held on board 
and to which I was invited. It was one of the 
most delightful luncheons to which I have ever 
been. That night a state dinner was given by 
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Barau, 
to the Argentine Officers, and to which the 
American Commanding Officer and the Of- 
ficer of the Gendarmerie were also asked. 
Mme. Barau is French while her husband is 
of course a Haitian. No dinner anywhere, I 
was told, could have been given which would 
have been more appropriate or more delight- 
ful. 

The national standard coin of Haiti is a 
gourde, which is worth 20 cents in American 
money. It is made in the form of our Ameri- 
can dollar, and means to the Haitian about 
what a dollar means to an American. About 
two years ago there was a scarcity of gourdes. 

106 



Gourdes 

An attempt was made to have others printed, 
but as the printing is done in Washington and 
at that time the printers' strike was in full 
swing, it was impossible to get the gourdes 
for a long time. This led to great hoarding of 
the gourdes, which resulted in their becoming 
even scarcer and finally in their depreciation to 
below 4 for a dollar. New gourdes were being 
given out when I arrived and they were back 
at their normal value of 5. 

The shops in Port-au-Prince are mostly 
Haitian. The West Indies Trading Com- 
pany, an American concern, it is true, has two 
large stores at which much that is in Ameri- 
can department stores can be purchased. But 
the rest are mostly native-owned. Simon 
Vieux is the leading grocery, and knick-knacks 
and odds-and-ends of every description can be 
gotten at "Le Paradis des Dames," "Aux 
Cents Mille Artiles," and "L'Ange Gar- 
dien." 

107 



Haiti: Its Dawn of Progress 

It was indeed with tremendous regret that I 
finally left Haiti the first week in February. 
Haiti, as I have shown, has a wonderful past 
in the commerce and cultivation of the French 
days and in the accomplishments of the heroes 
who made and kept her independent. But 
these records are only a preface to what a 
marvellous future she should have. Haiti is 
essentially a land of the future and of pos- 
sibilities of which to-day we see only the barest 
vision. The curtain has already begun to rise 
upon Haiti as an agricultural land of the first 
class and more and more it will be opened up 
and become again the rich country which it 
once was. And in the future the Haitians and 
foreigners together will reap the benefit and 
they will be of great mutual aid to one another. 



108 



JUL 



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